Week 3 / Problems are really just solutions waiting to happen...

Monday:

Bike: 23.78 Miles

Should have also done some weights, but I didn't.

Tuesday:

Run: 7 miles fartlek.  Base pace at 10:20 with 10x30 sec fast sprints at 7:31 mixed in.

Felt good.  First attempt at any "speedwork" in well over a year so I'll take it.

Wednesday:

PT

Run: Easy run of 10.68 miles on trails @ 10:04 pace

Didn't feel great from the start, something just felt "off" but I hung on.  Such a pretty, and peaceful place....This is the view I get to look when I run on the trails at the park by my house....

Thursday:

Run: 3 miles easy 

Weights: 30 minutes

Friday:

Run: 9 miles @ 9:58 pace

Ran with a new friend from the relay I did.  I rarely run with people so this was a treat....but I find I waste a lot of energy talking and the pace felt tougher than it should have.  Legs a little tired from the week, too.

Saturday:

Swim: 1600yds

I usually love to swim laps, mostly kicking, for a great muscle recovery, but my left leg was having some issues in the groin and wasn't able to breast stroke kick much.  So I cut the swim short of a mile.  

Run: 1 mile (warm up to swim)

Sunday:

Run: 12 miles @ 9:42 pace.

I really had no energy to do this run and emotionally checked out long before it started.  My daughter moved out the day before and dangit if I didn't get choked up every time I thought about her empty room.  *sigh*

Week 3 Totals:
Run: 42.68 miles
Bike: 23.78 miles
Swim: 1600yds
Weights: 30 mins

Overall, I had a pretty rough week focusing on the workouts, I really didn't get in enough weight training but the mileage was where I wanted it.  I really fought hard all week to hold back the emotions as Abbey moved into her apartment, but it was tough and my running effort was definitely affected.  Don't get me wrong, I am happy for her - the girl has endured a lot of personal hardship in her life and this past month she had to make some very difficult grown-up decisions; but she is branching out on her own, as she is suppose to do, and becoming the adult she needs to be.  But it doesn't mean it is easy for me.  That's just my nature, I've always had a hard time with separation, but I am doing much better now and am very excited for her as she enters a new chapter in her life.  In fact, yesterday, we went to the zoo .... don't most 20-year-olds want to go to the zoo??  She was having a rough day with more personal crap so I took off and met her at the zoo and we had a great time - lots of smiles and some good girl chatting.  Perfect day :).

Abbey's fav: the giraffes

My body continues to hold up for the most part, but I am definitely feeling the push.  My left hamstring likes to let me know it doesn't care to go much past 10 miles and my back sometimes aches at this point, too.  A posture thing, perhaps.  Neither are concerns with the PT but I will probe him more about it when I go this week.  The forefoot of my left foot's also bothering me; I think I still compensate on this side of my body and I hit the ground harder on this side of my foot.  So I'm playing with shoes again and think I'm making some progress.  I need to pick up more wt training than one 30-minute session a week, but so far this week isn't looking much better.  I also need to be better incorporating more drills and strides....these are things to work on as I progress.

I recently read a blog post from a friend I feel I've "known" forever, which got me thinking a little about my running and why it's so important to me to keep pushing forward, when really, quitting a long time ago would hav been so much simpler.  I thought about the 17 marathons I've run, how none of them were easy and I'm pretty sure at least half of them were so painful I said in a mid-race temper tantrum I'd never run another.


But in the end, I have never regretted the struggle - there is a tremendous personal satisfaction in knowing that every marathon or race medal I own was earned with endless amounts of sweat, tears and mental fortitude.


Everything I have done in my life (work, running, cycling....) has not come easy to me.  I have had to work like hell just to be mediocre, but I am good with that because the satisfaction comes from knowing I have done my very best.

I am not someone who is particularly fast or talented as a runner (especially right now); I can't talk much about what it feels like to win a race, or even an age group very often.  But I do know I love to run.  Give me a slow, plodding painful run, a beast of a hill, in interval, a long run...it doesn't matter what it is, I just want to run!  I cannot pinpoint the exact moment in my life when running transition from my high school and college days of 'have to' to an 'I can't wait to.'  But it did.  And something happened to me as a runner, as a woman, and as a mother...all at once.

Determination has, by far, a greater impact than giftedness.  I am not a better runner because I am me; I am a better me because I am a runner.  And that, my friends, is why I never gave in to this debilitation injury....I feel better the past 3 weeks of little aches and pains from training than I have for the past two years not.


I am grateful for my new goals, my new approach, and my new running life.  I am excited to share with you my upcoming adventures as they come into view.   I hope I can inspire a little motivation out there, as I know you do me.  So, just like the rest of you, I will soldier on.

Here's the beautiful post my friend wrote.  I don't know why I'm including it.....other than it made me really, really happy that my injury could bring a happy ending ... somewhere.  Thanks, Garbo...

Sometimes happy endings are really just beginnings

Posted on September 14, 2011 by ilikemargarine

If you are wise, you regularly read Run with Jill, the blog of Slow Ernie’s longtime spiritual adviser. I first came across her in the ’60s on the RW Loop site. She was a terrific runner, a nice person and a gifted writer.

She has since moved on to her Big-Deal Blog. I am a faithful reader but rarely comment there because unless you catch her posts minutes after they go up, you’re relegated to Response No. 3,522. No need for her to get the big head.

So what’s the point here? She was sidelined a while ago with a career-ending injury. If it were me there would be homeless guys all over Corpus parading around in racing flats, because I would have just given up. But Jill researched, experimented, suffered, researched some more, cried, laughed and kept going.

“No running” became “well, maybe some biking” and “OK, a jog/run” and “well, maybe up Pike’s Peak, but only one way.”

And just like that, she’s back in her second week of marathon training. And kicking some serious buttocks.

The internet is an odd place. You don’t really know anybody, yet you know them really well. Jill and I at the same time have gone through injuries, unemployment, frustration and maybe the early stages of menopause. Or maybe I’m just crabby by nature.

All I know is, her comeback makes me really, really happy.

Drop by her joint sometime when you need a little inspiration. You’ll be glad you did.

But don’t bother trying to leave a response …

Just ignore that last line :)....I love the comments and appreciate each and every one of them, they truly helped me never give up when I seriously wondered if I'd ever run again.  Thank you!!


Finally, I have to brag share: Ryan ran a 17:38 5K during last Friday's XC meet, a good minute and a half PR.  Good lord that kid is showing a lot of talent.  I can only hope my persistence has rubbed off on him, too.

Run strong, my friends!  
(and I apologize for the spacing issues above....I am about ready to kick Blogger to the curb!!)